Zhu Youxiao looked at the research plan and said: "Okay, I will first study the problem of locomotives with Zhongqing, the rails can be made of wrought iron, which can speed up the progress, so now the main thing is to speed up the speed and cargo volume." I know that the higher the temperature of the steam, the more efficient the steam engine will be, and of course the safety problem will be greater. But we don't think we have a way to measure temperature. ”

Sun Yuanhua asked: "Your Majesty, the temperature can only be felt, and the ministers don't know how to measure it." ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Temperature can also be measured, just like distance and time. Matter has a property called thermal expansion and cold contraction. We use this to create a temperature measurement tool. By the way, our weights and measures should be well unified and precise, so that we can make precision machines, which is the basis of scientific research, does the Ordnance Bureau have craftsmen who make glass? ”

Sun Yuanhua said: "The craftsmen who make glass are all managed by the East Factory, and the Ordnance Bureau has no place to use glass on weekdays, so there are no craftsmen. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Glass is very important for people who do research, factory minister, you select a few people who are good at blowing glass in the glass factory to come to the Ordnance Bureau to make glass." ”

Wei Zhongxian looked at Sun Yuanhua and a few people with distrust, and then said: "Shengshang, there are very few more powerful glassworkers in our glass factory, if you draw to the Weapons Bureau, the glass factory will not be able to play." Wouldn't it be better if the Ordnance Bureau had requested it, and then it had been manufactured and delivered by the glass factory? ”

Zhu Youxiao scolded with a smile: "I just want to guard my own one-third of an acre." Okay, I'll draw a picture, and you can make it. In addition, Sun Qing used steel to make steel rulers, carved scales, and used steel to make yards of different weights, which could be used to make definitive versions in the future. I have to set the weights and measures first, and then I will study them after laying a good foundation. ”

On the morning of the next day, in the compound of the Ordnance Bureau, a meeting of the craftsmen and managers of the Ordnance Bureau was held. Zhu Youxiao began to speak on a makeshift platform.

"The main purpose of convening a meeting at the Ordnance Bureau today is to let everyone know what the right research method is. On weekdays, we have an incorrect view that whoever is in charge of the government is right. Perhaps this view is sometimes true in other respects, because experience, because the height of the station will give the person in the position of higher authority a wider field of vision, but when it comes to conducting scientific research, this view is absolutely wrong. ”

"Whatever we want to do, we must first have the right approach. There is an important principle of scientific research, and that is to doubt everything. What others say, first of all, is to express doubt, and what seems to be correct is not necessarily true. When you encounter something, you have to ask a few whys! ”

"Scientific research is a matter of no avail. If a machine is unqualified in one place, then the whole machine will be unqualified, which is not only a problem of unqualified, but also may bring serious safety problems. A bayonet, if the steel is not of good quality, our Guards soldiers can be wounded or even killed on the battlefield, and a substandard part of the steam engine can lead to an explosion while in operation. ”

"If we have the right approach and a down-to-earth attitude, then there's nothing we can't do. We not only want to build a steam locomotive that can fly on the earth, but also build a steam ship that can use slurry in the water, and there are many things that we have never seen and dare not imagine, and all of this depends on you to think and do it with your heart. ”

"I have implemented a reward system in the Ordnance Bureau to encourage everyone to improve their production procedures, and this reward system has played an important role in the development of flintlock firecrackers, and there have been great improvements in both the quality and production of firecrackers. And yesterday, I asked, and in the past year, the Ordnance Bureau has only rewarded five master craftsmen and one student of the research institute. It's not enough, it's not enough. As I said, doubting everything, is every part of the steam engine already perfect? No, as far as I know, steam locomotives can reach speeds of up to 400 miles per hour, while ours are less than 100 miles, so there is obviously room for improvement. ”

"We can even tear down the entire structure of a steam locomotive, we don't use pistons to push the crank, we can't use the wheel-like structure, these are all things that can be thought about and improved."

"I am stationed in the Ordnance Bureau, and I want to set up an organization, which will be called the Patent Inquiry Office. Whenever you find a mechanism that could be improved, or if you have a machine in mind, you can find an inquiry and I will provide you with everything you want for your experiments. If the experiment doesn't work out, it doesn't matter. If the experiment is successful, I will reward you accordingly based on your merit. At the Treasure Banknote Division, several people have made a paper that did not exist before, and I decided to give them half of the profits from the manufacture and sale of this paper, half of the profits of twenty years. It can be said that these few people can simply stop doing things, get a lot of money every year, and everyone will become rich. ”

"I give this example to show you what ingenuity can do for you. In addition to farming and working, in addition to being a soldier and doing business, there is actually another thing that can also allow you to support your family and even make a lot of money, and that is to create new things, which I call invention and creation. I hope that people all over the world can invent and create something that will make us richer and make our lives better. ”

Although some of the words are not very clear to the craftsmen, they can still understand the basic meaning. Some people with clever minds are tempted to improve or build new machines like the people of the Treasure Bank, and then they can get a lot of money like them.

And those students are even more fiery. The fact that they have learned a lot of knowledge in the graduate school has given them a broader perspective in research and a deeper understanding of the principles than these craftsmen, so they have a higher possibility of invention and creation. Zhu Youxiao had great hopes for them, but there might also be some characters like Watt among the craftsmen, so he would say this in the Weapons Bureau.

After the meeting, he instructed the clerk: "Give my speech to Mr. Xu for revision, let Mr. Xu and Master Ye polish it, and then publish it in the newspaper." ”